Well, hasn't this been a fun week though? Everybody and his brother got to take a free shot at NASCAR this week for having the temerity(Brass cajones) to tell Denny Hamlin to stand down and quit throwing stones at the glass dashboards... or something like that. Folks that read this column were forewarned not to expect too much from either Daytona or Phoenix with regard to the new cars. Well, we weren't disappointed, were we? Daytona was... Daytona; a restrictor plate track with a bunch of drivers feeling out a brand new car, one day after a horrific accident in the Nationwide race saw a car spew large parts of itself into a grandstand full of helpless human beings. Nope, Daytona wasn't a really great race, but then, it seldom is.

Phoenix is a flat one-mile track. Stock cars find passing right between difficult and impossible on a track of that configuration. (Phoenix, Loudon, Milwaukee Mile et al) We discussed all that here, before the race was ever run, so we knew it going in. The Gen-6 test would be Las Vegas, not Phoenix. So... all you new jumpers on Denny Hamlin's bandwagon, how did the car race at Las Vegas? I've spent the week ducking verbal bullets for d-a-r-i-n-g to be able to see the other side of the argument. If I, at 74-years young, can understand lack of passing on a flat track, why in the name of all that's right and holy can't Denny Hamlin?

A little patience with the old lady, gentle readers, while I share my feelings; then you can share yours, as always. NASCAR, along with Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Toyota Motors and Chrysler Corporation, spent over two years and countless $millions to come up with a car that was not only pleasing to the eye... a car with individuality of brand... a car that closely resembles the ones in our driveways, but a car that would race. The primary target was that the car would race better on the 1.5-mile and 2-mile Intermediate tracks, which represent a large percentage of our racing season.

Enter Denny Hamlin, with mouth running like a mountain creek at spring thaw. This is not the first disagreement between that young lad and NASCAR as to what is or isn't the proper way to conduct oneself in interviews or on Twitter. Frankly, I think they probably overreacted a bit on this one, but it was their $millions spent and their two years invested in trying to get the new car right... for US... you, me and that guy over there. The fans!... and for all the drivers that so detested the squat COT. We saw the cars race at Las Vegas. We saw cars side-by-side, three-wide, four-wide! We saw passing... record numbers of passes in fact. Well, that is, we at home would have seen it if FOX were capable of taking their cameras off the first 3 cars and showing the field once in a while. But you get the idea.

And how did Denny fare with all that racing and passing going on? While Gibbs teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch finished first and fourth respectively, Denny managed a ho-hum fifteenth place finish out of nineteen cars on the lead lap. Still can't pass Denny? Maybe...  just maybe... it's not the car.

Because I took the wildly unpopular road of agreeing in part with NASCAR, I am up to here (indicates the area of lower lip) with people telling me all about their concept of free speech and opinions. I was reminded by a close friend that "thousands upon thousands are siding with Denny and there is very little support for NASCAR." And your point would be??

This page, from Cornell School of Law, gives detailed definitions of freedom of speech under varying circumstances. Caveat: It's extremely boring, but it's there if you are confused as to what is or is not protected speech in these United States. Whether or not Denny's little whine session is protected is not even germane to the discussion. Technically, as I have also been reminded, NASCAR is not his employer. No, but they do sanction the sport in which he earns his living. Without their sanction, he does not race in Sprint Cup competition. They do have the right to levy a fine for "actions detrimental... etc." They do, and they did. Overreaction? Quite probably so... or maybe not.

Could I invite you all on a short trip down the path of logic? Let's all stand back and look at the three tracks already visited, Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas. At Daytona, the support race gave us the scare of a lifetime when a car almost made it into a crowded grandstand. At Phoenix, a young Nationwide driver, Jeremy Clements, was suspended indefinitely for a supposed racial slur uttered to a blogger from MTV. As I write this, Jeremy has been reinstated, after hopefully being taught not to talk to bloggers from MTV. Before Las Vegas, Denny Hamlin opined in an open interview that the new car was not as good as the old car. NASCAR didn't care for that and slapped his wrist. OMG! Stop the world; I want to get off! $25K is the lint in Denny's Jeans pocket.

So, gentle readers, that is our season to date. What is everyone talking about? Denny, of course. But... what is no one talking about? When is the last time you heard much of anything about Kyle Larson's near trip into the grandstand? Things got pretty busy right after that, didn't they? First the inconsequential alleged conversation between a little-known Nationwide driver and a blogger no one ever heard of draws an indefinite suspension. That got up the dander of a few, but maybe not enough. Next, a much higher-profile Cup driver is fined for the old standard, "actions detrimental..."

Now we have some flames to fan! Quick, get a Twitter hashtag going! #StandwithDenny! Dang thing has its own Twitter ID. The entire population of NASCAR Nation is up in arms and running their mouths and keyboards in unison about poor, poor, pitiful Denny and the great injustice that has supposedly been done to him. But what aren't they talking about? What happened to the hashtag that read "#Prayers for the Fans?" Sometimes, gentle readers, we do have to stand back so that we really can see the forest and not just the trees.

Meanwhile, back in the garage area... how about that Danica Patrick? It doesn't matter who likes her or who doesn't, and it's perfectly OK that our esteemed Legend sidesteps the question repeatedly by saying only that "She is good for NASCAR." That could well be the understatement of the year... of the Century.

"In research data provided exclusively to USA TODAY Sports, Repucom, a global company with an office in Charlotte, found that Patrick had 971 million impressions on Twitter in the eight days spanning when she became the first woman to capture a Sprint Cup pole position to the first to lead the Daytona 500."

That is from a column by Nate Ryan in USA today. You'll find the entire column at the link. In all honesty, I've never heard of Repucom, but then, it's likely they've never heard of me either. I didn't know Twitter had "impressions", but it stands to reason in this age of technology that I refuse to let pass me by entirely, there is a way to measure everything under the sun.

For the sake of quick comparison, whereas Danica registered 971 million impressions as the Daytona pole sitter, Carl Edwards, for the same time period one year earlier, registered 15 million impressions as the pole sitter at Daytona. That is almost 65 times as many impressions, mentions or whatever the term denotes. The word used by Repucom in the article is "staggering!" Yep! I'd say she is very good for NASCAR. You go little girl! Show 'em where the bear went. There are a lot of females out here pulling for you... even the very old ones that can only sit behind a typewriter. (Really, that word was used by one of our obviously technically challenged "gentlemen" this week, in reference to me and my limited capabilities to comment, since I have never "participated" in racing) I've never tasted lye, but I still feel qualified to say I wouldn't like it.

It's about time to turn this one over to you, gentle readers, for some discussion.  In a couple weeks, we'll all be excited and/or complaining about something entirely different. Heck, this weekend, it's Bristol Baby! Then everyone will be mad at everyone else.

Has anyone seen Brian France this week?

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